I was born in Australia and graduated from Le Cordon Bleu & the Swiss Hotel’s Association in 1999 before moving to Bali in 2001 where I started my first business. In 2006 I sold this business to make way for a growing passion for the environment. I spent the next 6 years raising over $5 million for conservation and community based sustainable development in Indonesia including a carbon-based (REDD+) forestry conservation project spanning 250,000 ha and an agro-forestry based renewable energy project in Papua.My life changed after tasting fresh cacao fruit for the first time in 2010. I discovered that that despite (at the time) being the world’s third largest producer of cocoa there were no premium chocolate makers in Indonesia and the reality of cocoa farmers was characterized by low prices, low yield and rampant pests. But most of all I was amazed that despite being a Le Cordon Bleu graduate and lifelong chocolate lover I knew so little about how my favourite food was grown and produced. I set out to see whether the issues facing cocoa farmers could be resolved while developing my first recipes in a small thatch roofed hut nestled between rice paddies, cacao and jungle in the heart of Bali. Over a decade later my small stone melangeur has been replaced by world-class machinery and a much larger factory but my passion to produce premium chocolate where it’s grown origin remains. My goal is to share my chocolate and the story of cacao with the world, redefining and reimagining our relationship with chocolate and in doing so with nature and each other.@tobiasgarritt